


Contemplation of the Crow King

by TheObnoxiousWindFish



Series: Bird Family [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: F/M, Heavy gore, Henry figures out emotions and mutilates a corpse the fanfic, Miriel’s mentioned mostly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-10 05:37:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15942872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheObnoxiousWindFish/pseuds/TheObnoxiousWindFish
Summary: Henry figures something out.





	Contemplation of the Crow King

Henry, though perhaps not to the same effect as some people in the army, had disappeared after the battle of the Mila Tree. Some assumed it was because the place had been too holy for a plegian dark mage, if they had noticed at all, but that simply wasn’t the case. No, Henry had thoughts to deal with, things in his system bubbling up uncomfortably, and he had to cope with them the best way he knew - violence and bloodshed.

Which is why he left, most people tend to frown at him for performing bloody corpse mutilation in camp. Chrom told him to cease and desist, but so long as no one else has to stare at the body, Henry figures if it’s outside of camp then it’s fine. It would be stupid to tell him not to kill, anway. It’s all he’s good at, no purpose in keeping a dark mage from doing what he’s good at!

Maybe things weren’t that simple.

Henry finds himself in a darker part of the forest surrounding the Mila Tree, where the leaves prevented the soft colors of the sun set sky from facing the earth. Well, for all Henry could have known, the lack of sky visability could also be from the dense population of crows that tail him on a near constant basis, seeing as even now, they continue to loyally protect him. Henry himself half wandered the forest, as the other half was dragging the body of a Risen warrior behind him. A rather sharp rock in the ground beneath catches on the corpse’s pants, ripping a hole in fabric, but keeping the body intact. Henry makes a small sound of effort, pulling the creature’s arm as hard as he can into a small clearing, then resorts to rolling the body into the middle.

Crows eye the dark mage and the body as Henry squats down next to the dead Risen, fumbling in his pockets to retrieve a small knife. It’s nothing special, just a trinket from Mustafa in case Henry was without magic, but Henry kept it near and dear because it was also amazing at carving up body parts.

A few crows hop down as Henry takes to pulling the Risen’s arm free, using the tiny blade to cut the more resiliant muscle fibers.

“Ya know, Corpsey, things haven’t been right lately.” Henry mentions to the Risen body, giving its arm a strong tug - only to fall on his butt instead of get towards his goal. Better try again. “I joined Chrom’s shepards for fun so I could watch everything die in the war, but...”

He trails off, adjusting to sit cross legged with the still attached arm in his lap. The small nicks in the purple skin of the risen leak a dark, ghastly smoke and what’s left of its partially sludgey blood starts to pool in the grass below. Henry’s smile is unreadable, but he can’t quite describe his emotions as it is - but his eyes, thanks to the lack of sun, have begun to crack open.

“There’s this girl in camp whose been getting my attention.”

The crows, akin to gossiping girls who were just told a juicy rumor, caw and ruffle at the comment. Henry waves at them without looking, and the noise clamors down.

“She’s something else, ya know? I found her reading under a tree... with a snake in her hat! The snake was cute, but I had to hex the snake away and we’ve been working on all kind of hexes together!” Henry finds himself rambling, but he doesn’t stop - similar to how he doesn’t stop pulling the arm away from the body. He does stop to put more little cuts into the muscles around the shoulder, then leaves the knife next to his seated position on the floor. “Plus I have been fighting with her a lot... I never met anyone who can identify the parts of the body with their full names!”

His thoughts distracted, Henry attempts to push the corpse away with his feet while tugging on the arm. A sickly pop rings out in the clearing as Henry puts all his effort into pulling the arm away, tumbling onto his back as the joint and muscle finally gives, ripping angrily as Henry holds up his prize.

He doesn’t sit up, though, and instead fiddles with the arm’s fingers as his mind wanders.

“It’s just not easy, Corpsey.” He pouts, sitting back up as he starts patting the body with it’s severed arm, more trying to articulate words than accomplish anything with the body. “She’s so smart and wise, it’s so nice to listen to her talk, even if I don’t get every word she says. I mean, she’s so used to having to clarify what she means - but she seemed so happy that I understood! I’m so glad wizard school taught me to pick up on context clues.”

He tosses the arm aside, growing bored with the limb, and grabs the knife again to start cutting open the chest of the Risen’s body. Why don’t warriors wear chest plates, or actual clothes, again? Henry can’t remeber, but it makes carving the skin easier. The new incision releases a massive burst of the dark magic smoke, exhaling in a massive amount like a balloon with a hole in it. Henry doesn’t seem effected by the smoke, and instead reaches into the new cut, pale hands becoming bloodied. It’s old blood, gross and almost sludge, but for now, it’ll do as Henry starts attempting to remove whatever organ he has a grip on.

“I don't want this to be like Wolf all over again. What if she gets killed in the war? I mean, I guess I’ll have her corpse to play with for a while...” He stops his organ removal to think, smearing blood on his face as he rests his chin between his forefinger and thumb. “But that’s not really that fun. I’d rather have her alive.”

A crow caws in reply. Henry frowns, but resumes tugging on whatever organ he now has a hold of upon reaching back into the Risen’s body. 

“She feels like Wolf. Kinda. But different? I want to protect her... She doesn’t need me to, but I want to.” He pauses again. “I hate when she looks at the other men in the camp, the ones who aren’t married. They don’t know how to talk to her. It makes me want to...”

He gives an extremely hard tug, eyes briefly glowing purple as he finally removes what he was pulling on - a kidney. His demeanor, just as quickly as it shifted, returns to normal. “Gauge their eyes out and cut out their tongues. Nyahaha!”

He looks over the kidney, decides he doesn’t want it, and tosses it upwards. In a flash, multiple crows dart from their perches and race for the organ, following it to tbe ground as the squabble on who gets a piece. Enough of them have left the perches for Henry to determin there’s still some light out.

“I don’t get why I feel like that though. Do you think she’d even understand why?” He looks over at the Risen’s face, its last moments of pain engraved on its face from its death. He frowns, spreading open the corpse’s left eyelids wide enough to start wedging the organ out of the socket. “I mean, she’s Miriel. She can figure out everything with enough time... but she’s so caught up in her studies.”

Henry winces when he accidentally squeezes too hard, causing the eye to pop instead of coming out in one piece. “Oops.”

The crows disband as the organ’s done being devoured, and Henry starts working on removing the right eye instead. “I really don’t get why I feel like this, though. I feel like I’d repeat the village thing if she died, but more. I kinda want to hide part of my soul in her hat. Give her something so precious...”

Henry manages to to free this eye without breaking it, and snips it free with the knife. He tosses it in the air too, and crowd who missed the kidney fight over the eye.

“It’s like she outranks killing! I don’t get it at all...” he frowns, staining his robes with blood when he crosses his arms. “Wait... I think Virion mentioned it...”

Henry returns to pulling organs free, but this time using a knife to ease them out faster. 

“I think Virion called it love. That’s silly... me? Love? The only things I love are blood and murder! Both ways.” He’s referencing his love to kill and his crows. Henry stops once he removes the stomach, wincing as the organ spills its contents back into the body. Even that’s a little gross, even for him. “But... it’s the closest thing I have, right? Do you think... she’d love me back? Can I matter more to her than science?”

He frowns again. Wow, he’s frowning a lot today, but no one’s here to comment on it. “... It’s a tall order. But she told me she likes my help in her experiments and I felt my heart rate go up! My pulse hasn’t been that loud in my ears for at least five years!”

Is... is he blushing? Henry notices his face feeling hot, and the hand not hold the stomach wipes blood on his face as he feels the sudden temperature spike.

“... Well, I’ve gotten rejected before. I’ll still protect her, even if she says no.”

He tosses the stomach furthur into the forest, but his crows remain still. He has a few organs left... what did Sumia do? Flower fortunes? Maybe he’ll just have to do a less flowery one. Might as well start with the stomach - he has at least a few more left.

“She loves me...” His smile’s back, but it feels more natural. Henry frees and tosses another organ, and continues this pattern until he’s out of bodily organs that are housed in the chest and abdomen. “She loves me not...”

The last one, the other kidney, is tossed in full force into the woods, and it leaves a real smile on Henry’s face. “She loves me.”

He glances down at the body, then stands up and lazily kicks it onto its back.

“We’ll just have to test that theory, then. Probably should clean up before I go get the ring though.” Pleased with himself, Henry turns quickly, then makes a small whistle, alerting the crows it’s time to go as he walks back to camp.

Things might actually be better than he expected.


End file.
